According to an announcement by Saxo Bank, the Copenhagen-based bank has struck up a “strategic partnership” with Microsoft Cloud and will run its “entire technology stack” on the online service.

Financial institutions increasingly had to recognise data and cloud services as assets and shift its focus “from hindsight to foresight”, and be on the front foot regarding security, privacy and compliance with regulation, the statement said.

The partnership would allow Saxo Bank to scale, be more flexible and secure, it said.

Commenting on the announcement, Saxo Bank founder and chief executive Kim Fournais said the future of the financial services industry would be cloud-based.

“By partnering with Microsoft we take part in shaping this future. Saxo Bank was a fintech long before the term was created, and it is a natural step for us to also pioneer cloud-based solutions in financial services,” he said.

“By leveraging the Microsoft Cloud, we can spend more time on developing technology and less time on running it, allowing us to continue to stay at the forefront of client focused digitization and support our ambitious growth plans.”

Microsoft executive vice president for worldwide commercial business Judson Althoff said the software giant was “excited” to help the bank move towards the future of trading and investment on the cloud platform.

“Saxo Bank is at the forefront of fintech and our partnership will enable financial service organisations to securely harness data to better serve their clients,” Mr Althoff said.

Mr Fournais added that the two firms would “break new ground together” and work together with regulators to ensure the cloud platform would align with regulation standards of the finance industry.

“At an early stage, we saw opportunities in using the internet and digital solutions to differentiate ourselves,” the bank founder said.

“Since we launched one of the first online investment platforms in 1998, we have been a Microsoft house, as such the Microsoft cloud is a natural fit for Saxo Bank.”